Parque Nacional Noel Kempff - Day 1
Thursday, 1. October 2009, 19:14:59
You have to have some persistence to get to the Bolivian National Park ¨Noel Kempff¨. We thought it would be easy to arrange once in Santa Cruz, but it was not...
After a bustrip of 9 hours from Cochabamba to Santa Cruz, we dropped our bagpacks at the busstation because we knew we would return there. So we went in the city to find some agency to help us with planning the trip. At the agency it was not possible any more to go to the parque, because a group of 4 just left by airplane and would stay there. Besides that, going by aircraft (small, 2 1/2 hours) was beyond my budget (I also pay for Susana). So the travel agency advised us to rent a 4x4, get 2 spare tyres, get enough food for 10 days (and water) and to go to a little village called Florida. From there we could enter the park.
Thanking the dutch guy (with bolivian girlfriend... hmmm, sounds familiar), we started our hunt for a 4x4. After some phonecalls and some more phonecalls, we almost gave up. Ok, we try the last number... The guy had a 4x4 but just went into maintenance. Then he suddenly suggested to lend a 4x4 from a friend. When we had the price, we said, ok!
Being happy that after 3 hours of calling and thinking how to dot it, we finally found something. We quickly went to a local supermercado and there we bought some of the necessary stuff to survive for 10 days. The rest we could buy in the last village.
With the groceries we went again to the busstation to get on the bus to San Ignacio. The 4x4 we had arranged, we arranged in San Ignacio, so that was another bustrip of 6 hours. And San Ignacio was not even near the entrance of the National Parque Noel Kempff...
After a bustrip of 9 hours from Cochabamba to Santa Cruz, we dropped our bagpacks at the busstation because we knew we would return there. So we went in the city to find some agency to help us with planning the trip. At the agency it was not possible any more to go to the parque, because a group of 4 just left by airplane and would stay there. Besides that, going by aircraft (small, 2 1/2 hours) was beyond my budget (I also pay for Susana). So the travel agency advised us to rent a 4x4, get 2 spare tyres, get enough food for 10 days (and water) and to go to a little village called Florida. From there we could enter the park.
Thanking the dutch guy (with bolivian girlfriend... hmmm, sounds familiar), we started our hunt for a 4x4. After some phonecalls and some more phonecalls, we almost gave up. Ok, we try the last number... The guy had a 4x4 but just went into maintenance. Then he suddenly suggested to lend a 4x4 from a friend. When we had the price, we said, ok!
Being happy that after 3 hours of calling and thinking how to dot it, we finally found something. We quickly went to a local supermercado and there we bought some of the necessary stuff to survive for 10 days. The rest we could buy in the last village.
With the groceries we went again to the busstation to get on the bus to San Ignacio. The 4x4 we had arranged, we arranged in San Ignacio, so that was another bustrip of 6 hours. And San Ignacio was not even near the entrance of the National Parque Noel Kempff...
WIDGETIZE
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